Whew! One more "Nutcracker" to go and, fortunately, it's one of the more satisfying of the breed. Oakland Ballet Company's artistic director Graham Lustig imported his own elegant staging in 2010, the first year of his tenure, though the production dates from 2000, when the British Lustig was running the American Repertory Ballet in New Jersey.

And with every revival, this "Nutcracker" becomes more of an East Bay yuletide tradition. Lustig stresses that this is a family entertainment; in addition to 22 professionals, his cast includes more than 40 children, some from the Oakland Ballet School, others chosen through open auditions last summer. The kids have become an essential part of that family.

"From year to year," says Lustig, "I've watched them grow from party guests to snowballs, which melt and then they become rats, and then, finally, bonbons. Altogether two-thirds of the children have been in earlier revivals." He hopes, too, that the free dress rehearsal performance, which will draw 1,500 schoolchildren, will prompt their interest in participating next season.

Lustig has set his "Nutcracker" in Vienna in 1910, beautifully evoked in Zack Brown's physical production. "The period saw the birth of modernism; it also marked the beginning of women's emancipation," says Lustig. "It was a time when a young woman was free to fall in love. It meant that corsets were doomed, and bodies could be dressed in flowing gowns."

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